Divide and rule

Dianne Abbott is in the news for making a racist comment. She tweeted this:



Is this a racist comment? Well, the definition of 'racism' is:

rac·ism (rszm)
n.
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

Well, she believed that white people had a different human character and she was showing prejudice against white people.

I am white. I do not want to 'divide and rule' people by race. In fact, I think of all people as equals and judge them on their own actions, not the colour of her skin. She is prejudiced against me and people who happen to share my skin colour. She is a racist.




I actually agree with Dianne. In 2010 she commented on a Guardian article and said this:

The Labour Party should never get involved in the politics of racial division.

Today, a front bench spokesman did exactly that. That is why she should go and go now.


The problem for Labour is that they rely on 'divide and rule' to get elected.

- Labour try to divide by class (remember "Tory Toffs" - as a Conservative supporter who grew up in poverty I am deeply insulted by their class slurs)

- Labour try to divide by sex (witness how they focus on rising unemployment figures for women when the real scandal is that more men are unemployed in every single constituency in the UK)

- Labour try to divide by race (witness today's storm in a tweet-cup)

For Labour, politics is about redistribution from those who do not vote for them to those who do. That requires division into 'them' (who pay) and 'us' (who get the money).


Conservatives, on the other hand, stands for individualism.

- Conservatives believe in aspiration for everybody, because people who aspire to more can achieve more.

- Conservatives believe in individual choice - choice of school, choice of health treatments, choice of local services, choice of how to spend your own money.

- Conservatives believe in merit. We don't care what who you are or what social group you belong to but what you can contribute.

For Conservatives, politics is about helping individuals achieve success. We don't look at who you are or where you came from, only where you are going and how to help you get there.




The first step of fixing Labour's in-built 'divide and rule' mentality must be to change their name. The very name 'Labour Party' is divisive - it says that they are the party of the workers against the employers.

May I suggest 'Social Democratic Party'. Not only would that represent a modern left wing political party that exists to solve the problems of the early 21'st century rather than early 20'th century, but it would help them take voters and politicians from the Liberal Democrats too, and finally let them get over the schism of the 1980s.

Somehow I think that might be an idea too far for Ed Miliband. His party is too divided by his rule.